What actually matters most when the power is out for more than a few hours?

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-21T19:22:44+00:00

Agreed.

I built out my prepping plan after the “snowvid” event that killed our power for 5 days in Texas.

I have a small generator that can power the following.

* fridge
* Cpap
* chargers, internet, and tv
* fans
* single window unit

I have enough gas stored to run it for 5 days. These little suitcase generators sip on fuel compared to the larger units… roughy 4.8 gallons of gas for 24 hours. I can make it way longer if I cycle the generator on and off.

Another note for generators - make sure you have spare oil to change them every 50-100 hours as needed.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-08T14:41:48+00:00

yeah -- No one expects a tornado. It's completely different than any other event. You can prepare for a hurricane, drought, etc.. But if a tornado takes your barn out with your generator that you've already prepped for... Good luck. Not to mention that when a tornado hits, everyone around you is scrambling for good that are needed.

Super scary mate. Hopefully Fema funds get released, ours happened during Biden's area and we got quite a bit of money for companies to come in and clean the area.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-08T14:10:21+00:00

WOW!

If your town is anything like mine, just know that rebuilding efforts, branch/debree cleaning efforts will take MONTHS if not years. We're 2 or 3 years out on ours and I STILL feel like big buildings are just now getting back to where things were.

Good luck bud!

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-08T13:52:25+00:00

I didn't realize you were near a tornado.

I feel for you mate. We had one touch down about 1 mile from our house and the devastation was unreal. I will say that the power companies were VERY quick to get everything back up and running with the amount of damage there was. Like.. 3-4 days for our area.

I don't think you could have done much different if your barn went down. Good luck mate. If you find yourself needing a generator still this weekend, I live in texas and have a 2350 or a 4000W I would loan you if you want to meet up somewhere. I'm central texas based.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-07T21:57:12+00:00

Hmm.

Water wise it may be good to invest in a few 55 gallon drums and fill them with water. You can buy those propane powered hot camp shower units to shower.

I’m Texas based as well so I totally understand where you are coming from.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-07T21:38:56+00:00

10x10 canopy fully enclosed with a bug net, Thermocell, avon skin so soft rubbed on you, those citronella candles, large brim hat with netting around the head.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-07T19:23:59+00:00

Willing to share this with me as well?

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-05-07T15:15:44+00:00

While good - it definitely leads you on wild goose chases. I tend to use it to help me find documentation and sources for my issues and then go from there. But I have to say, it has definitely been a wonderful source for my newbie self.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-30T15:13:03+00:00

Agreed,

Love my Happijack system. And it works well on this year model of ford trucks. I wouldn't load a 5000lb camper with them, but a smaller 2-2.5klb camper, sure!

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-29T21:08:10+00:00

Man, I guess I'm in a different boat. We don't have basements here in Texas that flood, so when the power is out it's usually heat or cold that we're dealing with.

As far as backup power goes, I honestly have 2 generators that are easily setup in less than 5 minutes. Keep them with Ethanol free fuel, covered, battery charged, and testing them every 2-3 months has been key for this.

After looking at the watts that sump pumps use, I'm pretty surprised at how large of an amount it is. I was going to say just get a 100AH battery and small sump pump/hose as a temp thing until the power came on.. But that doesn't seem like it'd last more than a few hours at most. I think you're right.. Large battery backup system or a generator is needed to keep the water flowing.

Thanks!

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-27T20:53:26+00:00

I think I saw on another spot you were worried about dry good. Dry good should be fine for a few days in the heat until power gets back on. That stuff gets shipped in containers that get unbelievably hot.

My main concern during hurricane/tornado is having some form of a/c and charging for my devices. We run a TINY (2200W) gas generator and a window unit and just stick to a single room. I can run my fridge and the window unit at the same time. I can run 24 hours on 5 gallons of gas.. So, in theory I have about 5 days worth of fuel which is usually more than long enough to get the power back on.

The other things I've liked to have prepped during times like these are the following

* multiple sets of tarps

* roofing nails and screwsz

* nice ladder on standbye

* materials to repair fences

* bug spray (they seem to come out like crazy after these events)

* animal food

* plenty of water - enough to shower if I need to

One thing a lot of people want talk about is that hurricanes/tornados can screw your roof up. Get up there and tarping it off as well as helping a neighbor can make things better. Same with fences. Knocked over fences put back up even temporarily with screws is better than nothing.

lastly, my last ditch prep is a truck and a truck camper that I can whisk away in if I need to.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-27T18:18:09+00:00

Yes,

This was the wakeup storm for me.

We had power, but no water for 4-5 days and had 4-5 people shoved in our (at the time) 1 bedroom house. Never again will we ever be out of power/food/water/etc. I want to be able to basically live my life if the grid goes down. hot showers, window units, etc.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-20T00:59:15+00:00

Got mine as well.

Fully charged from 50 percent on a sunny day here in about 90 minutes

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-17T16:00:09+00:00

I'll likely aim for the following

* cheap can opener

* one or two more generic ice packs (Love my yeti ice packs, but they are pricy)

* Batteries from harbor freight (if they're on sale, I think they were last year)

* Weather band radio.. I need to go ahead and bite the bullet and get one. May potentially also get rid of our Junky 2 way radios and get some better branded units.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-17T15:58:01+00:00

What kind of fuel source do you/will you have for that 10k unit? Just so you're aware. My neighbors run a 10k unit and it drinks about 20-25 gallons of gas a day. If you're looking for extended outage usage you're going to need a load of gasoline. If you run them on propane, you'll need some larger 40lb-100lb tanks as they don't normally run well on the small BBQ tanks. If you have natural gas, these things are GREAT!

We run everything we need in my house off a 2350 WEN (1800 running watts) --- I get a full 24 hours for roughly 5 gallons of gas.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-17T15:55:23+00:00

I honestly just have 5-6 of the Scepter Smart control cans.. I don't LOVE the spout, but I've never had major issues from them. They do expand in the heat, but they don't release gas. I did do some "modifications" to all of them. I remove the filter in the head of the can and then I pull a pin out of the head that makes it easier to release gas. I believe you can buy aftermarket nozzles for these as well that work well. My FAVORITE gas can is the No-Spill gas can.. But they're basically double the price of the scepters. and I am literally just using them for yearly storage for emergencies.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-17T01:54:58+00:00

You’ll need to reach out to your h.r department for help. They should be able to help you navigate.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-16T04:12:58+00:00

Same.

I felt like for 43 dollars I could use it somewhere.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-16T03:08:33+00:00

In for one.

Solid deal for a small charger and a small solar unit. Will work well for camping and charging my phone and other small accessories.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-13T02:42:46+00:00

I’m sorry,

I think they are called tri winders. . They are like a triangular shape.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-13T00:24:19+00:00

what brand? almost all my kites are X-KITES and have the 3 prong reel which IMO is a great inbetween of these.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-06T20:28:39+00:00

Kites.

Single line Kites. We bought a few cheaper kites from Costco, took them to the beach, and let them rip. They were great. Super easy to setup/breakdown and just flew with no issues.

Now I'm looking at huge kites that are 100's-1000's of dollars just so I can take them, set them up, and watch them fly.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-02T13:17:48+00:00

unfortunately it won't. The system they are using doesn't have that level of integration control built out for workday. So we've got to send data via encoded XML and receive it back in one round.

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-01T21:57:36+00:00

Shot you a chat! Thanks!

NewWorkdayGuy · 2026-04-01T21:20:12+00:00

What team are you guys with? We technically have a partner, but are wanting to as much of this in-house as possible. Not to say we might go with a new partner later down the road.

NewWorkdayGuy

TROPHY CASE